Sealed package



H. G. ALLEN SEALED PACKAGE Feb. 20, 1934.

Filed Deg. 28, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet l "IIIIIIIIIVIIIT i v v INVENTOR.jfommo G fix, L EN.

BY fid/vn/ f ATTORNEYS.

Feb-20,1934. H LLEN 1,948,089

SEALED PACKAGE Filed Dec. 28, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. flow/m0.6. 62 L 51v.

A TTORNEYS Patented Feb. 20, 1934' PATENT orrics SEALED PACKAGE HowardG. Allen, Niagara Falls, N. Y., assignor, by mesne assignments, toBoston Wire Stitcher Company, Warwick, R. 1., a corporation ofApplication December 26, 1931 Serial No. 583,237

- 8 Claims. (Cl. 229-511) This invention has to do with packagingarticles, and it relates particularly to providing sealed containers forperishable articles such as edible articles or the like. The inventionis directed particularly towards the provision of a sealed containerwhich may have a curved formation. The invention is particularlyapplicable to pie containers, and for the purpose of disclosing theinvention the same is shown and described herein in connection with acontainer for pies, or similar articles, but it should be understoodthat the invention is useful for packaging other articles of pastry suchas cake or the like, or any other object or objects.

One environment for the invention is'in conjunction with" pie plates orpie containers which are usually of fibrous material and in which picsare held and sold to the trade. To seal the pie in the container acovering over the same may be 2 provided of relatively thin material,such as cellophane or thin paper orthe like which advantageously may besubstantially transparent. Difficulties present themselves in securingsuch a thin covering material to the pie plate or container. Inaccordance with the present invention an element is utilized incooperative relation with the peripheral edges of the pie plate andsecured to the pie plate with portions of the thin .sealing materialdisposed between the element and edge portions of the plate. With thisarrangement the peripheral edges of the covering are securely held bybeing engaged between the element and edges of the plate. The elementmay be secured to the plate as by means of stitches g and rivets orother penetrating devices.

The element when used with a container of circular form may, in itsfinal form, be ring llke; it may be used, however, with containers ofdivers shapes such as, for example, square or otherwise multisided, oroval, or the like. However, it is advantageous to apply a word to thiselement and it is termed herein a "ring, it being understood that suchterm is intended to describe the element whe in its final form, it issquare, oval, or the as like, as well as when it is circular. Theparticular formation of the holding ring is an important feature, andthe present invention contemplates provision of such a ring which can bemade cheaply with substantially no waste of material. so For example, ifthe rings be cut from sheet-like material there is an immense wastage;the ring of the present formation may be formed from strip materialiashioned so that one edge is curved on a radius shorter than the other;thus 135 to eflect the curving formation. This may be accomplished bymaking one edge irregular or corrugated in shape, and in order tomaintain such shape an additional element of metal or the like may beemployed; which has'suiiflcient rigidity to keep the corrugated edge ofthe ring in such corrugated or irregular shape.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a container made in accordance with theinvention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially on line 22 ofFig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailed view of a portion of the edge of thecontainer.

Fig. 4 is a section taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view illustrating a modified form. r

Fig. 6 is a sectional view illustrating a further modified form.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view illustratinga modified form of the invention.a

f Fig. 8 is a view illustrating another modified orm.

Fig. 9 is a plan view of a completed rim element as it may be furnishedto the trade.

Fig. 10 is a view of a drum type container with whichthe invention maybe utilized.

Fig. 11 is an enlarged sectional view taken through a rim on the drum.

Fig. 12 is a perspective of a drum rim which. may utilize the invention.

The pie plate or container may be of the usual form and it may be ofground wood pulp or the like formed into shape while in moist conditionand dried under pressure. It may have a bottom portion 1, a circularside wall 2-, and a peripheral flange 3. This flange may be more or lesscreased as at 4 to give the same an angular formation in cross sectionincreasing its strength and rigidity. The body of the article or pie isdisposed therein, as'illustrated at 5.

Heretofore, pies have been handled and sold to the trade in an uncoveredcontainer substantially as just described. In order to seal thecontainer, a cover element 10 may be placed over the container, and thisadvantageously may be of relatively thin material as above pointed out.Where the container is circular in form, as illustrated in Fig. 1, thecover 10 likewise may be circular and preferably of a diametersubstantially equal to the overall diameter of theplate so that itsperipheral edges lap over the flange'3. Theperiph- I eral edges of thecover may be utilized for holding the same'in place as by securing theperipheral edges to the plate flange. For this purpose a ring likeelement may be disposed around the peripheral edges of the containerover the cover, said ring like element being generally indicated at 11.This member preferably comprises a strip of material of paper, jute orthe like, folded upon itself so as to provide a leg 12 and a leg 13joined by a bight portion 1%. This member is preferably shaped so thatit is angular in cross section, as illustrated in Fig. 4, thus, to fitthe flange 3, with the edges of the cover interposed between the ringand flange. In order to provide the curved formation of the ring, theinside edge may be corrugated or otherwise irregularly shaped, asIllustrated in Figs. 1 and 3, and preferably the bight portion isdisposed so as to constitute the inner peripheral edge.

The legs 12 and 13 may be secured together by a suitable adhesive orglue, and the ring may be disposed in such manner that its endssubstantially abut, as illustrated in Fig. 1, thus forming.

substantially a closed ring, or to overlap as shown in Fig. 9. In orderto aid in the maintaining of the irregular formation of the inner edge,an additional element may be provided which may take the form of ametallicwir'e or strip 15 disposed preferably in the bight portion ofthe ring. This wire is preferably of a metal of sufiicient stiffness andrigidity so that the corrugations once formed will be substantiallymaintained thereby. The ring may be attached to the, pe-

in application Serial No. 571,128, filed October 26, 1931, of which I ama joint inventor.

The invention contemplates modifications of I the ring structure, and asshown in Fig. 5 the structure comprises a strip of material bent uponitself to form leg portions connected by a bight portion, and the sameis identified by the reference character 20, the legs of this form maybe united by glue-or the like but the reinforcing metallic wire elementis omitted. The bight portion lends some rigidity and strength to oneedge, and this is the edge preferably to be corrugated o-r irregularlyformed. The form shown in Fig. 6 is made up of two strips of material 21and 22 glued or otherwise secured together with a metallic or otherreinforcing element 23 disposed between them, and located preferably inclose proximity to one edge, this being the edge to be corrugated orirregularly formed.

It will be readily appreciated that ii the ring is formed by cutting thesame from a blank of material that there is an immense amount of waste.The present ring may be made up of straight strip material together witha piece of wire for an insert with the material fplded around the same,and with its opposing portions or legs glued together. This of coursewill result. in a straight strip of material. To curve the same it isthen corrugated along one edge to shorten said edge, and where theflange of the pie plate is angular in cross section as shown, this stripmay be similarly fashioned. The ring shown in Figs. 1 to 4 may be madeby drawing the strip,

of material and wire from reels and progressively drawing the samethrough suitable mechanism such as rolls or dies for folding the paperstrip around the wire, shaping and corrugating the same. In the case ofthe modified form shown in Fig.6 two strips of material may be drawnfrom reels with the wire properly positioned be- .them at the overlappedportions.

reeaoee tween them and then the strips may be secured together.

As regards the modified form shown in Fig. 7, it may be pointed out thatthis form bears a resemblance to that shown in Fig. 6 having the twostrips of material 20 and 21, but the metallic reinforcing elementis nota wire round in cross section but is in the nature of a flat strip. Fig.8 shows a single sheet of material folded upon itself to form the bightportion utilizing a rather flat reinforcing element 25. Rim elements forcontainers may be made up in the desired shape, securely held in thisshape and supplied to the trade for disposition around the rim of acontainer body. A circular rim element is shown in Fig. 9 which iscomposed of the structure above the described. Its ends may be securedtogether in any desirable way, as for example, overlapping them as shownand securing This advantageously may be done by a metallic penetratingelement or stitch 26, although the overlapped edges may be fixed as bymeans of an adhesive or the like.

The invention lends itself for use in connection with drum typecontainers. Such a. container is shown in Fig. 10 wherein .the body isdrum shaped which may be formed of a blank of fiber board or the likehaving a seam running from edge to edge, said body being illustrated at30. The drum may be closed by a head 31 of disk formwhere the drum isround in cross section. In orderto secure the head to the drum a ring orrim is provided which, as shown in Fig. 11, may comprise twosuperimposed sheets 32 and 33, and these sheets may be integral witheach end formed by a single ribbon folded upon itself to form a bight34. The seam is fashioned to form a flange 35 which may overlie theoutside edge of the drum, a top portion 36, and an inside flange 37.Projecting radially inwardly from the flange 37 may be a flange 38. Inorder to properly form and obtain a curvature, the flange 38 may be,corrugated, as illustrated in Fig. 12, and for this purpose areinforcing metallic element 39 may be used. Likewise the re inforcingmetallic element 40 may be employed in the flange 37. A reinforcingmetallic element 41 may be used in the bight portion. The head 31 may besecured in flange 39 as by means of penetrating devices such as stitchesor the like 42, and then the head comprising member 31 and ring may besecured to the end of the drum container by penetrating devices such asstitches 43 taken through the flange 35, the end portion of the bodywall and the flange 37. With these reinforcing metallic members the ringas a whole may be made from relatively light fibrous ment may beemployed with containers of allshapes whether they be square orotherwise multisided.

I claim: H 1. A container for an article of pastry or the likecomprising a holder of circular form having a side wall and adaptedtohold an article, a

covering of thin flexible material the peripheral edges of which overlapparts of the side wall, a 15.

the like, comprising a container body having side walls, a flangeprojecting outwardly from the side strip of fibrous material over theperipheral edge of the covering, said strip having an irregularly shapedinner edge to render the same of curved formation, 'a metallicreinforcing means for maintaining such irregular shape in said strip,and means securing the strip to the side wall.

2. A container for an article of pastry or the like comprising a holderof circular form having a side wall and adapted to hold an article, aflange projecting from the side wall, a covering of thin flexiblematerial circular in form having?- its peripheral edges overlying theflange, a strip of fibrous material disposed over the flange andperipheral edges of the covering material, said strip being irregularlyshaped on its inner edge to render the same of curved formation, ametallic reinforcing means secured to the strip along its inner edge formaintaining such irregular shape, and means securing the strip to theflange.

3. A container for an article of pastry or the like comprising a holderof circular form having a side wall and adapted to hold an article, aflange projecting outwardly from the side wall, a sheet of coveringmaterial of circular form having its peripheral edges overlying theflange, a strip of fibrous material over the peripheral edge of thecovering material, said strip of material being corrugated on its inneredge whereby the same is given a curved formation, a strip of metalextending along. the inner edge of said curved strip and similarlycorrugated and serving to maintain the corrugations in the firstmentioned strip, and means for securing the first mentioned strip to theflange.

4. A container for an article of pastry or the,

like comprising a holder of circular form having a side wall and adaptedto hold an article, a flange projecting outwardly from the side wall, asheet of covering material of circular form having its peripheral edgesoverlying the flange, a strip of fibrous material over the peripheraledge of the covering material, said strip of material being corrugatedon its inner edge whereby the same is given a curved formation, a stripof metal extending along the inner edge of said curved strip andsimilarly corrugated and serving to maintain the corrugations in thefirst mentioned strip, and fastening devices penetrating the firstmentioned strip, covering material, and flange for securing saidpenetrated parts together.

5. A sealed container for perishable articles or walls, a sheet ofsealing material positioned so that its edges overlie said flange, astrip of material folded upon itself and positionedaround the flangewith the bight portion innermost, a reinforcing element located inthebight of the strip with the bight edge of the strip and thereinforcing element corrugated, said reinforcing element serving tomaintain said corrugated shape, and means securing the strip to theflange.

6. A sealed container for perishable articles or the like comprising acontainer body having side walls, a flange projecting outwardly from theside walls, a sheet of sealing material positioned so that its edgesoverlie said flange, a strip of material folded upon itself andpositioned around the flange with the bight portion innermost, and ametallic wire-like element disposed in thebight portion of the stripwith the bight portion and wire-like element corrugated, said wire likeelement serving to maintain the corrugated shape, and means penetratingthe strip, the edges of the sealing material, and the flange, forsecuring the said penetrated parts together.

7. As a new article of manufacture, a rim device for a containercomprising a strip of fibrous material curved substantially edgewiseinto a closed substantially circular area with its ends in closeproximity, the inner edge of the strip being corrugated, a metallicreinforcing strip associated with the inner edge and similarlycorrugated serving to maintain the corrugated shape, and means securingthe ends together. ,4 8. As a new article of manufacture, a rimreinforcement for a pie container or the like having a generallyhorizontal rim comprising superimposed layers of fibrous strip materialwith, said I layers united to each other, a metallic wire running thelength of the strip near one edge thereof and confined between theunited layers of fibrous strip material, said reinforcement beingarranged to be corrugated on one edge and fashioned substantially intocircular form by being bent edgewise so as to fit over the said rir'n onthe container, the fibrous strip material having insuflicient rigidityto maintain the corrugated form along one edge and said wire beingdisposed along the edge to be corrugated to reinforce the same and tomaintain said corrugated shape.

HOWARD G. ALLEN.

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